Bishops to U.S., Cuba: "Listen to better angels"

Bishops to U.S., Cuba: "Listen to better angels"
Tue Aug 18, 2009 6:04pm EDT
By Jeff Franks

HAVANA (Reuters) - The United States and Cuba must "listen to their
better angels" and end 50 years of hostilities that have caused
suffering for people in both countries, U.S. Catholic bishops visiting
Cuba said on Tuesday.

They said the United States should move more boldly to patch up
U.S.-Cuban relations or the opportunity for change that U.S. President
Barack Obama has endorsed may be lost.

"There's about 50 years of lack of confidence on both sides," said
Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando, Florida.

"That's a lot of history to overcome, but for the good of people who are
separated, and suffering because of that separation, we would hope that
both sides listen to their better angels," he said at a press conference
in Havana.

Wenski was part of a delegation from the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops visiting Cuba this week to meet with Cuban and church officials
and to inspect reconstruction work on church facilities damaged by three
hurricanes last year.

Cardinal Sean O'Malley of Boston said the group met with officials at
the U.S. Interests Section in Havana on Monday and would meet on Tuesday
with Cuban Parliament President Ricardo Alarcon.

The church leaders said they expressed concern to the Interests Section,
which stands in for an embassy because the two countries have no
diplomatic relations, that the Obama administration was not moving
quickly enough to change U.S. policy toward the communist-led island.

BOLD GESTURES

"They seem to be taking a position where they will move piece by piece,
which is a little concerning because there's so much work to do. One
might not get very far," said delegation member Father Andrew Small.

"We have called for bold gestures," he said, noting that the bishops'
conference has long endorsed ending the 47-year-old U.S. trade embargo
against Cuba and supports proposals to end a ban on American travel to
the island.

"There have been opportunities lost," said Wenski, referring to past
U.S. administrations.

U.S.-Cuba enmity dates back to the 1959 revolution that put Fidel Castro
in power and transformed the island into a communist state just 90 miles
from Florida.

Obama has said he wants to "recast" U.S.-Cuban relations and has taken
small steps in that direction by allowing Cuban Americans to freely
travel and send money to Cuba. But he has said further changes will
depend on Cuba releasing political prisoners and making progress on
human rights.

Cuba has said it is willing to discuss all issues, but its leaders,
including Alarcon, have insisted Cuba will make no concessions to the
United States because it is not the country imposing an embargo.

Relations between the church and Cuban government were tense after the
revolution but have improved in the past decade, especially after a 1998
visit by Pope John Paul II, said O'Malley. "Now we see that the church
has more space. We would like for it to widen more," he said.

(Editing by Jane Sutton and Todd Eastham)

Bishops to U.S., Cuba: Listen to better angels | Reuters (18 August 2009)
http://www.reuters.com/article/globalNews/idUSTRE57H66J20090818